Contrasting PJT Partners (NYSE:PJT) and CI Financial (NYSE:CIXXF)

CI Financial (NYSE:CIXXF) and PJT Partners (NYSE:PJT) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares CI Financial and PJT Partners”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CI Financial	$2.03 billion	1.54	$3.72 million	($2.08)	-10.48
PJT Partners	$1.49 billion	2.21	$238.47 million	$4.90	28.94

PJT Partners has lower revenue, but higher earnings than CI Financial. CI Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than PJT Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares CI Financial and PJT Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CI Financial	-2.28%	57.73%	5.23%
PJT Partners	9.00%	24.03%	14.36%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

89.2% of PJT Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.7% of PJT Partners shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

CI Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.55 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. PJT Partners pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. CI Financial pays out -26.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. PJT Partners pays out 20.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. CI Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for CI Financial and PJT Partners, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CI Financial	2	1	0	0	1.33
PJT Partners	0	5	0	0	2.00

PJT Partners has a consensus price target of $158.50, suggesting a potential upside of 11.79%. Given PJT Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe PJT Partners is more favorable than CI Financial.

Risk & Volatility

CI Financial has a beta of 1.41, suggesting that its stock price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PJT Partners has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

PJT Partners beats CI Financial on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CI Financial

CI Financial Corp. is a publicly owned asset management holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the firm manages separate client focused equity, fixed income, and alternative investments portfolios. It also manages mutual funds, hedge funds, and fund of funds for its clients through its subsidiaries. The firm was founded in 1965 and is based in Toronto, Canada with additional offices in Vancouver, Canada; Calgary, Canada; and Montreal, Canada.

About PJT Partners

PJT Partners Inc., an investment bank, provides various strategic and capital markets advisory, restructuring and special situations, and shareholder advisory services to corporations, financial sponsors, institutional investors, and governments worldwide. It offers advisory services to clients on various transactions, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A), spin-offs, activism defense, contested M&A, joint ventures, minority investments, and divestitures. The company also advises private and public company boards and management teams on strategies for building productive investor relationships with a focus on shareholder engagement; and strategic investor relations; environmental, social, and governance matters; and other investor-related matters. In addition, it provides advisory services related to debt and acquisition financings; structured product offerings; public equity raises, including initial public offering and SPAC offerings; and private capital raises for early and later stage companies, as well as other capital structure related matters. Further, the company offers advisory services in financial restructurings and reorganizations; liability management; distressed mergers and acquisitions; and to management teams, corporate boards, sponsors and creditors. Additionally, it provides private fund advisory and fundraising services for a range of investment strategies; and advisory services to general and partners on liquidity and other structured solutions. The company was formerly known as Blackstone Advisory Inc. and changed its name to PJT Partners Inc. in March 2015. PJT Partners Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in New York, New York.